Missing Arrangements
by Raserei Hojo
Summary: The arrangements for Bad Luck's next CD were due an hour ago and Suguru can't find them. Yet, Tohma somehow got a hold of someone's arrangements and Suguru wonders if Tohma liked those better than the ones he had written himself.


Studio 3 was a complete mess. The floor was a landscape of white discarded papers; chairs were overturned and even a table was on its side. Of course, making the room so much messier wasn't going to help the dark-haired boy find what he was looking for, but at the moment, he didn't care. This was a search of desperation.

Shuichi threw open the door with a bit of difficulty since a small mountain of papers partially blocked the entrance to the studio and his jaw nearly dropped when he saw the mess. "Fujisaki! What are you doing?"

"My arrangements!" shouted Suguru in a panicked voice. He quickly rifled through another pile of papers and, apparently not finding what he was looking for, tossed the papers on the floor and moved on. "The arrangements I wrote two days ago. I can't _find _them! The demo tapes are missing, too!"

Shucihi watched, flabbergasted. "The… arrangements…?"

"Yes!" Suguru threw a handful of papers he'd already searched through in Shuichi's direction, but they didn't fly very far. If Shuichi had forgotten that both the lyrics and musical arrangements for their next CD were due this evening, Suguru thought he might just have a conniption—one on a far larger scale than the one he was having right now.

Shuichi placed an index finger thoughtfully on his chin. "I thought I saw them this morning when I brought in my lyrics."

That statement was enough for the panic to temporarily erase from Suguru's system. "You _finished _your lyrics? On time? Seriously?"

"Hey! I can do my job! Things with Yuki are great, so I have all the inspiration in the world!"

Suguru sighed. He didn't have time for Shuichi's monologue about how great Yuki Eiri was in bed last night—he needed to find those arrangements before his cousin asked for them. Otherwise, he was a dead man. "Where did you see them?"

Shuichi obediently pointed to the upright table that had been cleared of papers during Suguru's frenzied search. "There. Sakano-san said he would take them to Seguchi-san's office at noon."

"What?" That wasn't what he had been told. Sakano had told him the day before that the lyrics and the musical arrangements would be taken to the president's office at 5 o'clock in the evening. It was already an hour past that.

Suguru looked around at the mess he had made for apparently no reason. He felt a little ashamed for ruining the studio, but at least he hadn't bothered the equipment. It's not like his arrangements or the demo tapes would be hiding beneath the keys of his keyboard or anything like that anyway.

"It was because I finished the lyrics early," said Shuichi, a huge grin on his face.

At this point, Suguru wanted to cry. Shuichi had finally done his job—not only on time but _early_—which was a good thing and a habit Suguru hoped the vocalist would keep up. But, would it have been too much trouble to tell him that the plans had been changed and that everything was ahead of schedule?

Suguru dropped to his knees with a soft sigh and started collecting the papers he had discarded onto the floor. He would have to sort them out again late. He was sure Sakano would do it for him if he asked, but he had made the mess himself so it was only fair. Even if his two band mates didn't have the best manners, Suguru wasn't going to be like them.

"Well, I'm off!"

"Where are you going?" Well, Suguru couldn't blame Shuichi. Their work was finished ahead of schedule for once and a break would be nice. It was silly of him to expect Shuichi to actually help clean up the mess.

"Oh, I've got a date with Yuuuuki."

How unsurprising. "That's nice, Shindou-san," mumbled Suguru as he gathered another armful of papers and sorted them into a neat stack.

"A date with Eiri-san?"

Shuichi and Suguru both started and whipped their heads toward the door of the studio. Tohma stood there with a calm smile on his face, holding a small stack of papers—the first page was one Suguru recognized as one of the arrangements he'd made. _Good_, thought Suguru. _He really did receive them on time._

"Y-Yes," said Shuichi, his voice suddenly an octave higher. He pointed a finger accusingly at Tohma as though he'd silently been persecuted for mentioning the date. "It's okay because I finished my work and Yuki is the one who made the reservations!"

The smile never left Tohma's face—not that either member of Bad Luck really expected it to leave. "I see," said Tohma evenly. "Well, that's fine. You can stop pointing at me now, Shindou-san."

Shuichi sheepishly lowered his arm, looking ready to make a bolt for it the moment Tohma left enough room in the doorway for him to leave. "Oh."

"Actually," said Tohma softly, a furtive expression replacing the smile, "I'm glad I caught you before you left, Shindou-san."

"Wh-Why is that?"

"I wanted to talk to you about your arrangements."

Suguru stood up and placed the newly straightened stack of papers on the upright table, ready to accept the blame. He looked at his cousin, but was surprised when Tohma was still looking at Shuichi.

"My arrangements?" Shuichi echoed. "Fuji—"

Tohma cut him off. "I thought they were marvelous and I wanted to commend you for your hard work."

Both Shuichi and Suguru stared at the president of NG as though he'd lost his mind. "Uh, Seguchi-san…." Shuichi whispered, his voice low. Suguru wanted to ask if his cousin had suddenly forgot who the keyboardist of Bad Luck was, but he kept silent. Surely there was a logical explanation for all of this. There had to be one.

Tohma's pleasant smile returned. "I'm absolutely positive that this will go at least double platinum."

Suguru shifted uncomfortably. Was it because the arrangements were good that it would go double platinum, or was it because Shuichi had actually written good lyrics for once?

"Really? Double platinum?" Shuichi sounded incredibly excited as though this was the first time they'd be doing it.

"Yes. I have a reward for you, Shindou-san, for all of your hard work."

_Our _hard work, Suguru wanted to correct. Still, he trusted his cousin's judgment and remained silent and watched as Tohma reached into his pocket and withdrew two slim pieces of paper.

"Plane tickets?" Shuichi reached for them like a greedy child.

Tohma nodded and allowed Shuichi to snatch them from his hands. "To Los Angeles. You're free to take Eiri-san if you like, and Ryuichi will be there, too."

Shuichi hugged the plane tickets to his chest as if they were his own newborn twins. "Thank you, Seguchi-san!"

"It's because of your hard work." Tohma was still smiling, but there was something almost darker about his tone of voice. "And your arrangements. You've improved a great deal."

Shuichi glanced at Suguru and laughed nervously. "Y-Yeah, well."

Suguru knew that Shuichi had been practicing arrangements in his spare time, but he also knew there was no way Shuichi would have surpassed him—not even in this lifetime! Maybe his cousin really _had_ lost his mind.

Well, Suguru was used to this kind of treatment, anyway. Because he did his work, he didn't need to be bribed with rewards like Shuichi and Hiro did. He was always playing in the back on stage—and even on the CD covers of their albums, his picture was always the smallest. It was only a matter of time before someone else received the credit he deserved.

And, deep down, Suguru was sure that Shuichi would correct Tohma if he wasn't such an intimidating figure. There were few people allowed to correct the president and he _was _their employer. Just because it was rare for people to be fired from companies didn't mean it was unheard of, either—even if it was a small thing like that.

"The plane leaves in two days. Please enjoy yourselves and tell Eiri-san I said hello." Tohma stepped away from the door and Shuichi literally ran out, but not before giving a quick bow to his boss.

"Ah, this studio room is a mess," said Tohma in an almost airy kind of way. He was no longer smiling, but he didn't seem upset, either. After all, he was used to Shuichi breaking down doors and bursting through walls; seeing a room simply mess was probably unsurprising.

"I'm sorry, Sir. I was looking for something." Might as well fess up now.

"Oh?" Tohma curled an index finger in front of his mouth and smiled around it. "What was it you were looking for?"

Suguru glanced at the stack of papers Tohma was holding and noted that the demo tapes were probably still in his office. "Just… papers."

Tohma chuckled and then gestured toward the hundreds of papers littering the floor of his studio. "Congratulations. I think you've found them."

Suguru looked down and pretend to be surprised. "So I have."

Still smiling, Tohma shrugged and gently placed the lyrics and arrangements onto the upright table. Then, to Suguru's surprise, he lowered himself to his knees and began collecting the discarded papers.

"S-Seguchi-san!"

"It's my fault," said Tohma without any further explanation. He tapped a handful of papers on the floor to straighten them out then set them aside, repeating the action with another handful of papers. Eventually, Suguru snapped out of his reverie enough to kneel on the floor and help straighten the papers.

They worked in silence for a good ten minutes before Suguru finally asked, "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why is it your fault? I'm the one who made the mess."

Tohma laughed as he straightened the last pile of papers and set them aside. He walked to the overturned table and, with a bit of effort, flipped it upright, then proceeded to pile it with the freshly stacked papers. Suguru watched from his position on the floor as Tohma righted the chairs as well.

"It's my fault because I asked Sakano-san to bring the lyrics, the arrangements and the demo tapes early."

Suguru blinked and he raised his brows considerably. "You knew what I was looking for?"

"Of course! I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't make a mess like this unless you were looking for something musical related. And, because you expected everything to be in this studio and they weren't, of course you'd go looking." Tohma's smile briefly turned into a smirk. "But I'm surprised you made such a _large_ mess."

"W-Well… I wanted to make sure you got them on time."

Tohma held out his hand for his cousin to take—and he did so, hesitantly—then hoisted the younger boy onto his feet. "I received them on time, so no harm done."

It was getting harder to keep quiet about Shuichi getting credit for his work. "Seguchi-san?"

"Yes?"

"Did you… really like Shindou-san's arrangements?"

"Of course not." Suguru nearly did a double-take. "They were mediocre at best. If a plant was forced to listen to that drivel, it would inevitably wilt."

"S-Seguchi-san!"

"Did you honestly believe I couldn't tell your stellar arrangements apart from Shindou-san's?"

He _had_ thought that, hadn't he? But it wasn't his fault! Tohma was such a good actor and even though Suguru had known him all of his life, he still couldn't fully understand him or why Tohma did the things he did.

"No, I… I didn't think that."

"I only did it for fun. Besides, I knew complimenting his mediocre work would raise his spirits even higher than before. As long as he's happy, he won't suffer a burn out and you won't have to suffer."

"I see." Truthfully, Suguru didn't see at all.

Tohma made a small humming sound—one that made Suguru feel like Tohma knew he was lying. Sometimes, he wondered if his cousin really _did_ know everything. And, if he did, Suguru wouldn't be surprised in the slightest.

Tohma rested a hand on Suguru's shoulder. "I understand how you must feel."

"What do you mean?"

"Your work is always underappreciated; you're two years younger than your band mates so your opinions aren't taken seriously; and, because everyone spends so much time coddling Shindou-san and Nakano-san, you feel as though you should get some kind of reward for your patience. After all, you're the only one who hasn't tried to quit."

Suguru could feel the blush staining his cheeks and tried to will it away. "Th-That's not true!"

"Am I wrong?"

Oops. "I joined Bad Luck when you gave me the opportunity because I wanted to become a musician—and that's what I've become. I shouldn't complain."

"Well…. Even if you shouldn't complain, it's all right if you do. You're only human." Tohma gave Suguru's shoulder a squeeze before retrieving the papers that had caused Suguru such stress. "Your arrangements that I received today was the best work I'd seen in years."

"R-Really?"

Tohma nodded. "Have a good evening, Suguru-kun." He smiled at Suguru—a strange smile that almost seemed genuine—before inclining his head the slightest bit and walking down the hall and up the stairs.

"…You too," whispered Suguru, though by then, Tohma was too far away to hear.


End file.
